Martin Wroe, LONDON -
Noah's Ark has been found on the
Turkish-Iranian border, 32 kilometres from
Mount Ararat, according to the leader of a
team of scientists that has been
investigating the site for six
years.

The Turkish government is so
convinced by the findings that, after years
of intransigence, it has designated the
site one of special archaeological interest
and agreed to its excavation next
summer.

The remote site contains a buried,
ship-like object, resting an altitude of
2,300 metres. At 170 metres long and 45
metres wide, it conforms almost exactly to
the 300 cubit by 50 cubit boat that God
told Noah to build, according to Genesis 6
in the Bible.

On surrounding terrain, the
American and Middle Eastern scientists have
identified huge stones with holes carved at
one end, which they believe are
"drogue-stones," dragged behind ships in
the ancient world to stabilise them. Radar
soundings indicate unusual levels of
iron-oxide distribution.

Salih Bayraktutan, head of geology
at Turkey's Ataturk University, estimates
the age of the 'vessel' at more than
100,000 years. "It is a man-made structure
and for sure it is Noah's Ark." The site is
directly below the mountain of Al Judi,
named in the Koran as the Ark's resting
place.

David Fasold, an American
shipwreck specialist with no religious
affiliation, has led the investigation. He
says subsurface radar surveys of the site
have produced "very good pictures." "The
radar imagery at about 25 metres down from
the stern is so clear that you can count
the floorboards between the walls."

He believes the team has found the
fossilised remains of the upper deck and
that the original reed substructure has
disappeared. But the findings have
infuriated the scores of Christian
Ark-hunters who travel to Turkey, convinced
the Ark will only be found on Mount
Ararat.

Fasold, who calls himself an
"Arkologist," also argues that it was not a
great flood that pushed the Ark into the
mountains. He says it was "an astronomical
event causing a tectonic upheaval, a tidal
bore causing gravitational pull in the
ocean waters that forced the boat into the
mountains."

Some of Fasold's team of
geophysicists and geologists are reserving
final judgement until the excavation and
carbon-dating. But in a British TV series
on the environment next month, team member
Vendyl Jones, a Middle East archaeologist
and inspiration for film character Indiana
Jones, says it is "between maybe and
probably" that they have found Noah's
Ark.

The
Observer newspaper, 16 January
1994

Prologue: The Quranic verse
detailing about the resting place of the
Noah's Ark is found in Chapter Hood, verse
44 (Qur.aan 11:44). The verse says:

{When the
word went forth: "O earth! swallow up thy
water and O sky! withhold (thy rain)!" and
the water abated and the matter was ended.
The Ark rested on Mount Judi and the word
went forth: "Away with those who do
wrong!"}

The 49th verse of the same Chapter
says:

{Such are
some of the stories of the Unseen which We
have revealed unto you: before this neither
you nor your people knew them. So persevere
patiently: for the end is for those who are
righteous}